The fourth day of the Olympic judo tournament unfortunately ended prematurely for our two TeamNL judokas. Joanne van Lieshout and Frank de Wit were both eliminated in the preliminary rounds. Joanne, the overwhelming favorite after winning the world title in May, had a bye in the first round, but lost her first match in the final seconds. Frank also had a bye, then managed to win his first match, but was stranded in the eighth finals.
Van Lieshout, active in the -63 kilograms, had to compete against the Korean Kim. The mutual score was 1-1, with the most recent win for Joanne. The match went well for her and the Korean was also on edge with two penalties. At the end of the match, things only go wrong. After a ground fight, Joanne receives a second penalty. This takes her by surprise and the Korean immediately takes advantage of it. With ten seconds left on the clock, she falls behind with a waza-ari and Joanne can’t do anything about it.
Frank de Wit (-81 kg) met Hugo Combo from Vanuatu in his first match. De Wit is the superior party during the match and is not in danger. Within 50 seconds the match is decided by an armlock from Frank. In the next round the number 7 of the world, Makhmadbekov, from Tajikistan was waiting for him. They recently faced each other for the first time, in the preliminary rounds of the World Championship last May, and Frank lost then. He was therefore determined to win this time and also started well. Halfway through the match time Makhmadbekov used his infamous Tai-Otoshi and scored a waza-ari. In the remaining time de Wit does not manage to get a counter score on the scoreboard. With that his individual Olympic tournament ends in the eighth finals.
Photo: BSR Agency